Kodiak's Space Contraptions

Shavit-2 Launch

2007-11-27T19:27:00.001-05:00

Shavit-2

2007-11-25T16:37:00.000-05:00

Just started this

Spacehab Arctus continued

2007-06-30T16:50:00.000-04:00

Getting there :)

Still need to add thrusters, and a docking port to the configs. But otherwise its just about done

Back to making add-ons

2007-06-29T18:43:00.000-04:00

While browsing Nasaspaceflight.com I came across this this interesting post on a concept by Spacehab. The Arctus ISS resupply spacecraft peaked my interest a as project for orbiter.

So after bashing and sticking together some sphere's, cube's and cylinders together in Anim8or, We have Arctus for Orbiter.things left to do
-texture issues to fix
-make the re-entry vehicle
-configs

off to a great start so far

Kistler K-1

2007-01-08T16:21:00.000-05:00

RLA modular launch vehicle family is complete and uploaded to orbithanger :)

I pulled an old project out of parking orbit on the weekend the Kistler K1 COTS version

Happy New Year

2007-01-03T12:02:00.000-05:00

Its 200....... OMG I can't believe another year has gone by 7.

The new year brings changes for my Orbiter projects, Brad has announced changes and a new direction for SimNASA in 2007. I will be doing some Add-on development for Simnasa, to help bring this new vision to Orbiter

Changes to my current projects
-Kondor will be finished and released under it's real name the RLA-120, 130 and 150 series, without the widebody centaur

The manned ellipsled type capsule (as well as all other parts related to this add-on) is in parking orbit(frozen project) I might restart it in the future or find another use for it, but don't hold your breath

Happy holidays Everybody

2006-12-23T19:53:00.000-05:00

"Spy shot" :)
I'll be back after Christmas

Centaur on Krispy kreme doughnuts

2006-12-17T16:45:00.001-05:00

I had planed to make the LEO elements first, But in order to make the launch site, I needed to have a rough idea of how tall the lunar Kondor version would be. LockMart's proposals for a wide body centaur will serve as the upper stage for the Kondor. It should work out real nice, Since I can just stretch and shrink the centaur to the size needed for the mission. CECE engine(s) will be used instead of RL-10's, for commonality with the landers.
Centaur 6X + Centaur 1.5X
Kondor-1 + Centaur 1.5X
Kondor-3 and Kondor-7 have the boosters angled correctly now
The Lunar kondor-7

Configs are done for the LEO versions of the Kondor
~payload
Kondor-1=33,000kg
kondor-3=104,0000kg
kondor-7=220,000kg
-180x180km orbit, ISS inclination,
-5000kg, 18.5x7m fairing(atlas 5 fairing 23x5.4m =4019kg)

Kondor-7 isn't doing as well as I had hoped, But it still delivers better performance than I need(60-75t TLI mass)

Up, up and away

2006-12-11T18:01:00.000-05:00

I did a bit of crude performance testing tonight of the Kondor. Performance is roughly in the same ballpark as what's described on Astronautix.com, But really won't know for sure until I get the configs done.

Size comparison of Kondor-1(RLA-120) with atlas 5
Kondor-3(RLA-135)
Kondor-7(RLA-150)

Flight of the Kondor

2006-12-10T18:11:00.000-05:00

Venera-D has been updated . I added an aerobrake to the lander, and updated its config. Landing speed is now below 10m/s. I figured out how to make better looking parachutes today, Made a new one for Venera-D :)

I've decided to call the RLA series rockets the "Kondor" launch vehicle

I did some more texturing and had the first flight of the Kondor today, using Mark Wades specifications(archive of the old astronautix). It was right the money, had no problems hauling 30t to LEO

Venera-D is finaly done

2006-12-09T17:40:00.000-05:00

Venera-D is done and released at Orbithanger, Turns out the problems I had with it was a bug with spacecraft3 or Orbiter, not my launch dates. If its not too much trouble I might update the add-on with a new lander that has an aerobrake,

Last summer I flirted with the Idea of starting SimRoskosmos, a counterpart to SimNASA. Since then I have given up on the idea. But I still plan to make some of the add-ons I thought I would need to pull it off. My idea was to use existing technology, and be as modular as possible. Start with LEO ops, but design everything with growth potential in mind, for lunar and beyond missions.

The key to pulling off something like this is having the right Launch vehicle. Originally I had planed to use Angara, but quickly realized it was to small. After searching Encyclopedia Astronautica, I decided on the RLA series, as the Launch vehicle of choice for this en devour

RLA-120- 30,000kg to LEO
RLA-135- 100,000kg to LEO
RLA-150- 250,000kg to LEO

I started making textures for them today
I overhauled my Fregat mesh and added new textures, for Mustards Soyuz(or anyone who needs a Fregat

Real men don't need instruction's

2006-12-02T16:27:00.000-05:00

Just need to make an instruction manual now for Venera-d, Then its finally finished :). I flight tested, tweaked and made scenarios for Venera-D today, which took at lot longer than I had expected. Admittedly it is a difficult flight to complete, unless you cheat and use unlimited fuel, On the flight towards Venus, you really have to be careful on how much fuel you use, the fregat burn has to be almost perfect, if you use more than 10% of Venera-d's fuel for course corrections you won't be able to get into Venus orbit. and then there is the difficulty of trying to land and insert the orbiter into orbit. If you use the scenarios I made, they set you up for a polar landing close to the north pole, right on the edge of sunrise, and polar orbit for the orbiter.

edit:
I have a feeling I have screwed something up, venus express is in a 24hour orbit, the best I can get the Venera-D orbiter in is a 500km x 375millionkm orbit, they both have similar fuel ratio's and ISP, so I figure my launches are screwed up, because the Venus encounter is happening way to fast. I'm going to try running the mission with the Venus express mission event dates, and see if that solves things

Soyuz, Soyuz, SOYUZ!!!!

2006-11-30T19:29:00.000-05:00

Its hard to beat the good old workhorse Soyuz, my favorite rocket, is getting alot of attention from the orbiter community
Mustards versionDarth Vader's and Castorp's version
Check out Darth Vader's site, for another blogging orbiter add-on developer
Astronaut, the man that made that wonderful R-7 ICBM add-on (the one that can accurately bomb your house) is making the R-7 family, and it is very impressive Venera-D is almost done, just scenario's and the instruction manual to make now

On the drawing boards.........

Its getting hot in here

2006-11-05T17:26:00.000-05:00

Decided to try something a little different tonight.....

VIDEO ;)
no sound(haven't figured how to do that yet)

I made a video of the Venera-d entry sequence, The configs are done for the venus entry part(as shown in the video) but the orbiter config still needs thruster locations set, But otherwise its almost done. Still need a working Soyuz though :(, I might have to hold out for mustard to finish his

If their isn't any complaints, I might start useing video on a regular basis, to cover my development of add-ons for orbiter

One step forward

2006-11-04T17:01:00.000-05:00

Venera-D model is done and in orbiter, Working on the configs now. I have to work out the weights and the aerodynamics for the entry capsule /lander, but things are working out as planned, Which is nice, for a change. Two steps back......
the CVEL Soyuz jettisons the fregat and the Venera-d payload at the same time, Venera-d should stay attached to the fregat, to make the burn to escape earth orbit. Need to find a solution for this

I just switched this site over to the new blogger beta, I think I'm going to do another site make over to take advantage of the new features

Boo!

2006-11-02T16:41:00.000-05:00

All of the Venera-D meshes are complete now. The colors are screwed up in the picture, because I was cutting and pasting the meshes together for this screen shot :)
The landing sequence is finalized
1. drogue chute deploys
2. drogue chute pulls away backshell, and opens main chute
3. main chute pulls lander out of the heat shield
4. main chute carries the lander to the surface
Now comes the fun part, making it all work in orbiter ;)

Halloween sucked this year, only had 17 kids come by the house for treats, I don't even know why I even bothered to stick around and hand stuff out, but at least it kept me out of trouble. Oh well

Mid term elections are coming up, I have to wonder if this will have an effect on NASA, Since its Bush's pipe dream to go to the moon, and his opposition is expected to have win a majority

One more redesign

2006-10-29T15:34:00.000-05:00

Had to redesign the lander, I couldn't find a way to make the legs fit in the aeroshell, So I went with a landing ring similar to the Venera 9-14/VEGA landers. Also the wind turbine has been redesigned for the same reason as the legs. I think the lander looks better now

Just noticed this

Direct Launcher

"DIRECT is an alternative approach to launching missions planned under NASA's new mandate: The Vision for Space Exploration (VSE)."

They are using Orbiter to visualize this alternative architecture
Great stuff Antonio :)

Where the wind blows

2006-10-15T18:17:00.000-04:00

Or maybe I might go with the wind powered Lander.....
hmmmm, decisions, decisions...
completely different landing sequence though, it would have to be similar to venera 1-8 (parachute landing, no freefall). Or maybe try something different, inflatable ballute?

Onwards to Venus

2006-10-15T17:31:00.000-04:00

Had the first test in orbiter today for Venera-D. Things went great, a couple of things to fix with the models, but otherwise the models are done. I ended up changing the antenna on the Lander to a hollow cylinder like the Venera/Vega Landers, which also doubles as the parachute container. Up next configs and, working out the entry sequence for the Lander(current thinking is something similar to the Venera 9/10 Landers, that's going to be fun to try and simulate)

But why is the Rum gone?

2006-10-14T13:32:00.000-04:00

Because I drank it all.....
I think...
Have to confirm that one :P

I did some more work in my shop on the weeknights, painting and making airlines, I'm running copper pipes all over the place, for my airtools. I did a test the other night, too make sure there was no leaks. Ha!, I had a leak alright, a tiny one, that let out a high pitched, extremely loud scream, when the airlines was pressurized. Add to that my shop is still empty, so you have an incredible echo, just to make things more interesting.

Anyways on to the Orbiter things
I decided to go back to the original RTG powered lander for Venera-D, The wind powered one, didn't look the greatest, while the RTG one looks like it is an evolution of the Venera family. I should hopefully have Venera-D in orbiter soon

Zach I do have a Dnepr model, just needs textures, and a custom DLL, to be accurate, the third stage does a 180 degree turn and pulls the payload into orbit rather than pushes it like most rockets, it can't be done with multistage, which is the reason why I stopped development of it

New Venera-D lander

2006-10-09T11:41:00.000-04:00

New wind powered version, had to make most of it up, since the diagram I have is little more than a sphere with a pin wheel on top of it. I think this is going to be it model wise for Venera-D, since there is very little info out on what it will look like(its still really early in the concept definition phase), for those that are interested here is info on the current orbiter/lander proposal
Orbiter
Lander
not a lot to work with :(

I just can't get over how stunning these pictures are from MRO and Opportunity of Victoria crater
there is a good write up from Doug Ellison on the Planetary society's blog, of the pics
I see you, Baby
Also a good article in Avleak on Victoria crater
Victoria's Secret 274K PDF

To answer Zachstar's question and anyone else who is interested, in knowing my opinion on blender and google sketch up modeling programs

Google sketch up still has a significant flaw when saving the model as .3ds, you can have textures, but no smoothing groups, or you can have smoothing groups, but no textures, you can't have both for some reason. And at the end of the day the cost for the program is crazy, $500, but I was cheating it. Using the free version to model with, and the time limited demo full version, for conversion to .3ds. :P

Blender, I got about halfway through the "Noob to Pro" tutorial, I learned more about how to use blender as a result, but my opinion remained the same. Its way to complicated, and time consuming, for the kind of modeling I do. Every model I have made so far starts off a rough model made up of nothing but basic, sphere's, cylinders, and boxes. For that Anim8or rules the day. complex shapes and finishing touches, depending on what you are making, Blender/Anim8or are on par with each other, if all you are doing is changing the shape of the faces or repositioning points, beyond that blender is the undisputed king. Textures, I know you can do great texture jobs in Anim8or, just look at the firefly jumbo, or Mustards, station pieces, I just wish they would reveal some details on how they do it. Blender has some great texture tools, But I have yet to see anybody put out a model that would make me want to give up anim8or. (GMAX on the otherhand..... WOW...). For conversion to orbiter, blender kick's ass, with its scripts, however the upcoming anim8or .95 will support scripts as well

At the end of the day, Kudos to those who use Blender, But I won't be one of them

BTW happy Thanksgiving
my fellow Canuckistani's :P

Venera-D

2006-10-08T17:56:00.000-04:00

Making progress on Venera-D. I came across some more recent info today on Venera-D, The design for the orbiter is still the same, but the lander has changed to a wind powered version, instead of RTG powered, So I might remodel the lander.

Down the rabbit hole, We go

2006-10-07T14:01:00.000-04:00

So where have I been....
I was abducted by aliens, hit be a car, bitten by a spider(no spiderman powers yet :P), tarred and feathered by the locals, scratched by the cat, blimp crashed in the backyard.
OOOHHH NOOOO, GODZILLA
And worst of all, I have a toilet paper cut on my ass.

LOL, just kidding, I moved my shop, And I'm still not done yet. I'm currently waiting on the floor to dry(poured concrete) in my new shop, so I can start unloading my stuff.

COTS
I knew spacex was going to be one of the final 2, but Kistler, I thought spacehab had a better proposal than kistler. Irregardless kistler's last estimate to bring the k-1 to the flight line was in the $600 million range, now you have to add on the cost's of creating a ISS resupply vehicle for the K-1. Does NASA realize that the $207 million that they have awarded to kistler, doesn't come close to the $600+ million needed to get this thing off the ground. Investors aren't exactly lining up to fund this beast, and I doubt a COTS contract is going to change things.

Lockmart starting to see the writing on the wall
Not to long ago, private space companies where described by big aerospace companies, as inexperienced, it will never fly, never happen, build it, and we might come to your bankruptcy auction, and you get what you pay for. But now, I can't get over the lockmart/Bigelow, announcement. Oh my gosh, Lockmart is talking about lowering cost's, high flight rates, making space affordable and accessible to the average Joe. Was the CEO of lockmart hit in the head or something, that's private space talk, or is the upcoming private space companies finally seen for what they really are, a threat to the dinosaur like big aerospace companies that are stuck in the stone ages
To bad NASA hasn't woken up yet, $100+ billion for the CEV program, are you F-ing kidding me

SS2
Is that really what the SS2 and its carrier aircraft "Eve" will look like, seems awfully fishy to me,
Photo
first and foremost look at the photo of WK and SS1, rather than babble about technical terms the ideal center of gravity placement for an aircraft is 10-25% of the total width of the wing, behind the leading edge of the wing, with that in mind, the SS1 center of gravity(COG) is almost on the COG of WK, so that WK will have roughly the same flight characteristics with or without SS1 onboard, also look at WK's main landing gear, notice that it is just slightly behind the COG, to give good takeoff and landing characteristics
Photo
now look at this photo of SS2 and Eve, The COG of SS2 isn't anywhere near where the COG of EVE is, and look at the main landing gear, how ridicules is that, It needs to be close to the COG, because it is the pivot point for takeoff and landing, its like lifting a fat guy on the end of a teter totter, and you are pushing down close to the pivot point. I'm surprised no-one has picked up on this yet.
Photo
Also look how close the elevator control surfaces are to the COG on SS2, same priciple fat guy on a teter totter, SS2 as it stands will have piss-poor pitch stability characteristics

So whats new on the Orbiter front
I canning all my projects, except for Venera-d, a current pic of it is in the the banner at the top of this page, time to do things one project at a time.

Its hot

2006-08-02T16:06:00.000-04:00

Way too hot outside recently, you know its bad when environment Canada keeps putting out heat, humidity, and smog alerts. The heat just sucks the life out of you. Cutting my lawn and gardening usually takes me about 2 hours to do. But I seemed to be making a career out of it over the weekend. Admittedly sucking down beers during breaks from the heat, didn't help much :). My cat seems to love this heat wave though, sleeping outside on the front lawn, doing a slow bar-b-que roll(for even cooking I guess) . Things are really slow right now.

I haven't had much time left over for orbiter stuff, The Angara fairings are complete, as well as the Briz-M upperstage, still have to make the KVRB upper stage, Angara second stage, textures, configs.......
No pics, they are on my laptop, which is dead at the moment, and I can't find my power cord for it.

I've been slowly learning to use Blender 3D, I've tried it before and did a couple of tutorials with it, but found the interface very time consuming and clunky to use, but the tutorials I was using are very much like Tigerteams interplanetary tutorials, do this, do that, to get results. None of the important parts are explained, so you are screwed when you try to do something not covered in the tutorial. I started reading last week, the wikibook Blender 3D: noob to pro, from what I have read and done so far it is quite good.

Interesting item on google earth, The Chinese have created a 700x900 m scale model of a mountainous disputed region occupied by china, but claimed by India.

link

New site

2006-07-30T14:55:00.000-04:00

Most of the new site works, but it is still under construction. It should be finished in a couple days

Apollo on cheerios

2006-07-24T18:22:00.000-04:00

No more steroids for you. According to Nasaspaceflight.com, Apollo 2.0/CEV now renamed project Orion has been put on a diet. They are also hinting at a redesign of the "Stick" CLV to launch Orion now. I still can't get over why NASA absolutely has to have its own dedicated launch vehicle for the Orion, As the Orion gets smaller and lighter with each redesign, The reasons for not using existing lauchers(Atlas 5, Delta 4) fade into the darkness. That is of course until Nasa creates new excuses, as to why it needs the CLV.
Link

Caught up in "COTS"
Interesting article over on MSNBC's cosmic log. A disturbing point however, The "homework"(I presume paperwork) is really bogging down Rocketplane Kistler, to point that its suborbital learjet(A project not related to COTS) test program for next year has been "crimped". Things must be bad if they have to retask employees working on an unrelated project, to fill out paperwork.
Link

Bigelow has released new images from Genesis
Link
Looks pretty snappy :)

Spent some time surfing the Orbiter community tonight
BTW Antonio's, Simcosmos site(if you haven't discovered it yet) is the best place to start
Link

anyways, Mustard has pointed out to me that the CBM texture I got from him, are made by "Well" of the the French Orbiter community. I will be changing the .PDF in the add-ons that use the texture, to credit Well
"Give credit, Where credit is due"

KSLV is done

2006-07-21T17:31:00.000-04:00

But orbithanger is not co-operating with me at the moment, I keep getting connection time outs. I'm going to try again tomorrow.

Some press releases are starting to come out on the soyuz upgrades.(it's basically the same as what's in my blog post from a couple of days ago)

press release

TMA-13 is expected to be the first flight of the upgraded soyuz with Kaleri, and Padalka onboard

Parom, I thought it was in limbo with the Kliper program. Apparently it isn't, first flight is expected in 2009. Parom will be based on the upgraded Soyuz and have an expected lifetime of 15 years, It will not only increase up mass to the station, but will also play a key role in the circum/orbit lunar program

I should have made this clear in my last post. The Soyuz LOK-M/ACTS is the ultimate evolution of what soyuz could be, according to energia's patent drawings. I suspect the LOK-M will be watered down into something that existing launchers can handle

Anyways I made some textures tonight for Fregat, part of my Angara project

Kliper, Just hopes and dreams

2006-07-19T17:51:00.000-04:00

Although Flight Global has reported that the Russian reusable spacecraft tender has been cancelled, Roskosmos press release states that's it will re-evaluate its needs for a next generation spacecraft *AFTER* the Soyuz upgrade. Which basically puts kliper in limbo

Roskosmos press release

The soyuz TMA upgrade will be a modernization of spacecraft components(some of which dates back to the 60's) and centralization of spacecraft systems. For example the communication systems onboard TMA (command radio link, telemetry, voice, television) each has is own antenna feeder unit, transmitters, receivers and amplifiers, when it could be sharing one if it was centralized. cost, production time and weight will be lower as a result. The upgrade will also cover extending soyuz lifeboat capability time from 180 to 360 days. Soyuz will also gain circumlunar capabilities in this upgrade

ACTS/SOYUZ LOK-M
-lunar orbit capabillites
-service module extended 1m for additional consumables
-high gain antenna on orbital module
-lavochkin interplanetary computer
-external tank(from fregat SB) mounted to service module
-gross weight 9500KG or 13500KG with external tank
-ESA eventually will produce domestic service/orbital module (ATV derived?)

Hot Flamey stuff

2006-07-16T19:30:00.000-04:00

that comes out of the thruster thingo is accelleratized to the fastness of that noisy stuff you hear by passing through an other-way funnel-like thingy before it reaches the funnel-like things you see, and by going through the funnel-like things it embiggens, which acceleratizes it to several times faster than that noisy stuff you hear. The faster the flamey stuff leaves the thruster thingo, the faster the rocket travels when it runs out of the gunk it burns. :)

KSLV is almost done now, Model+configs completed. I made a simple launch site for it, nothing fancy. Just have to make a PDF for it and its done

Sketchup...
I having alot of fun useing this program, so quick fast and easy, but I have noticed some limitations already. 1m in sketchup is not 1m in orbiter(more like a KM, its huge), textures and curved surfaces, have problems. if you want textures and have curved surfaces, you lose all smoothing efects, if you want smooth curved meshs and textures, textures come out screwed up. sketchup is great for box type models, like sattelites, launch sites and buildings, but curved models(if you plan on useing textures) like rockets, look like crap with no smoothing. Oh well, If those limitations get fixed I would give up animator in a heartbeat, but for now I think they compliment each other rather nicely

Has Isreal lost its mind?, self defense is one thing, but bombing out basic services(water, power, airports, bridges, roads, gas lines) is going to turn Lebanon into a wellfare state for the next 5-10 years, while they rebuild basic services. Not to mention the hate and distrust this crisis will generate towards Isreal. Stupid is all it is, disproportionate warfare at its best

Fly me to the Moon

2006-07-15T17:02:00.000-04:00

I was given some more great info on China's Chang'e program, I put some of the pics up on my flickr site. I still get the general impression that the western media knows more about a manned Chinese lunar landing than China's CLEP(China's space agency). But if you take away the Chinese red moon rising threat(hyped by western media) what reasons does NASA truly have to justify the very large amount of money needed for the current CEV program?. There is a strong interest in the Kliper/PTK replacement, ESA/RKA's upcoming Advanced Crew Transport System, but contrary to western reports there is no Chinese manned lunar program at the moment. FYI the Chinese showed greater interest in kliper than both ESA and JAXA did. Yang Liwei(first taikonaght) and various representatives of China's space program made frequent trips to energia for updates on the kliper program. If ESA/RKA selects the ACTS as the soyuz replacement, I wouldn't be surprised if the Chinese end up playing a big role in the ACTS program.

My Flickr site

Congrats to Discovery on a clean launch, Can't wait until its back home safe and sound. Hopefully the shuttle missions become common again.
And congrats to Bigelow on the succesfull launch of Genesis 1

KSLV- I had hoped to have it done today, But I ended up learning how to use a program called sketchup, I didn't plan to spend much time with it, but the proogram is really good, so simple but very powerful, I just wish it wasn't so expensive, $500 for the full version, $%#@!!!!!. Ahem, but if you use the free version to model with and then use the 8hour full version demo for conversions to other file formats, I should be able to crank out lots of orbiter models from sketchup. I have noticed that you can write scripts for freebie version to convert to other file formats. It would be great if someone wrote one to support Orbiter's .msh format.
Great program, hopefully a programmer from the orbiter community will make a conversion program for the freebie version.

Sketchup site

Canada Day

2006-07-01T10:20:00.000-04:00

Woo Hoo, its Canada Day which means a long weekend. I'm buggering off, see ya next week lol. I'm sticking around to see the shuttle launch, and waiting for the traffic to die down, then I'm gone.

The SimRoskosmos poll didn't turn out too bad, got more votes than I thought it would get, but not really enough to justify the time it would take to get this going. Its being put in parking orbit for now :). The poll did show that the manned lunar program was the most popular, and coincidently ESA and Roskosmos are reshaping the manned program with lunar goals in mind. early concepts show an enlarged soyuz(but its more squat then soyuz, very simular to the energia mars accent capsule) as the vehicle of choice, I guess that kliper and PTK are out of the running now. Just have to wait and see

Any google earth users?
I've noticed that baikonur has been updated with highres imagery

KSLV update
I E-mailed the Korean Aerospace Research Institute(KARI) looking for Info on the KSLV, didn't get much info from them. They will release details on the KSLV when they have the ground breaking ceremony for the launch site. Its seems that their launch pad wont be angara based(I thought it would be), the low res picture I did get, shows a very simple uncluttered pad(like orbitals taurus/minotaur sites). I might make or I might release it without a Launch site

SimRoskosmos #2

2006-06-24T15:55:00.000-04:00

Please fill out this survey

survey has ended

Info on

Energia's Kliper
Krunichev's PTK

SimRoskosmos

2006-06-22T16:58:00.000-04:00

Over the last couple of weeks I have been pondering about starting a virtual space agency similar to Simnasa, but based on the Russian Federal Space Agency instead of NASA, calling it SimRoskosmos or SimRKA.(I know ripoff of SimNASA) I have been collecting info on future Roskosmos programs and concepts, from these I have a basic idea of what SimRoskosmos would be doing

Manned flights:
1.Station building, resupply, crew transfers
2.Free-flyer visits
3.Moon, Mars and Venus programs

Unmanned flights
1.Comsats, to support manned ops
2.Free-flyers
3.Interplanetary missions

I am hoping to keep everything modular to allow for quick development of the add-ons needed to fulfill the above missions

basic current thinking is...
Energia Klipper or Krunichiev PTK, for manned op's

Parom or PTK service module for tugs/free-flyers/station modules

Angara would be the LV of choice for all missions

Roskosmos current interplanetary missions will be simulated, Phobos-Grunt, Luna-Glob, Venera-D, all three missions would launch on soyuz-2. but current testing has reveled that angara with one strap on booster can lift soyuz-2 class payloads

I have started modeling some the add-ons needed
Luna-Glob
Venera-D
Venera-D Lander
nothing is set in stone at the moment, so SimRoskosmos, may or may not happen, I think it would be best to have the basic parts defined and complete, before starting SimRoskosmos, so that it doesn't end up dead in the water. we shall see,

ITS ALIVE, ITS ALIVE....

2006-06-22T15:32:00.000-04:00

So I had the new furnace installed today, works great. The guys that installed it say it has "92% annual fuel utilization efficiency" compared to 45% for my old furnace, it will cut my fuel bills in half they say, I remain skeptical on that point however, I have to wonder if it is like hybrid cars, you may save money on fuel, but it costs 3-5 time more to fix them over a regular car.
Time will tell...

one problem has come up though, the door to change the filter is on the opposite side, compared to the old furnace, which means the wall that I carefully took down to get the old furnace out, can't be put back up as is. Have to think of something...

Missing in Action

2006-06-17T15:10:00.000-04:00

Orbiter add-on development has slowed to a snails pace at the moment. I've been busy lately, a couple of weeks ago the furnace came on, when the temperature dropped at night, the heat exchanger crapped out, and started making carbon monoxide(thank god for carbon monoxide detectors). Long story short I now need a new furnace. But my main problem is that years ago I finished the basement off and never thought, I would have to replace the furnace. Ha I wish thought of that at the time. To make matters worse I have central air conditioning, which needs the furnace to run, and I hate hot, humid days, So I am in a rush to get this done. Live and learn

My site is one year old now....
still can't believe it, my blogger site was only supposed to be temporary, until I had learned how to use Mambo, for my permanent site. But I ended up liking blogger better. I think I made the right choice, especially since more orbinauts are using blogger now as well.

once things get sorted out for me, I'll pick up my orbiter projects again

Nothing new

2006-06-10T17:36:00.000-04:00

I haven't had much free time lately, so no progress with my orbiter add-on projects.

Kim Jong-il and the DPRK will.....

2006-06-03T17:37:00.000-04:00

Be craping in their pant's when South Korea's KSLV has its first launch =). Textures and configs are done, it goes like a scared cat, but performance is right on the numbers. I started making the STsat-2 for the KSLV to launch. I think I'm going to make the Angara Launch site next, and then chop it up and convert it into the KSLV launch site

Bigelow the Space Gigolo

2006-06-01T16:18:00.000-04:00

If you haven't noticed yet Bigelow aerospace has updated their site

Bigelow aerospace

The info on his inflatable modules is still almost non existant, and quite vague. But there is some interesting info there, On the upcoming Genesis module(lauch June 16) there will be 1,000 photocards and small personal objects contributed by Bigelow employes, that will freefloat around Genesis after it is inflated. Six onboard, and seven external cameras will stream video to Bigelow's new website. On the next Genesis launch, you can buy space for your photo or personal item.

It would make an interesting add-on for orbiter, especially if you could simulate the stuff floating around inside. just have to wait and see :)

KSLV

2006-06-01T16:15:00.000-04:00

I hammered out the model and put on some textures(still more to do) last night, I was eager to try it out in orbiter. With throttleing(to 65%) the first stage pushes about 14G's at burn out, which is very high, but should have no problems putting 100kg into a 1500km orbit.

t\Space add-on released

2006-05-28T19:20:00.000-04:00

The t\Space CXV has been released, you can get it from orbithanger
t\Space CXV download

So.....
with the CXV released, a new orbiter project is in the works, I'm remaking my old Angara launch vehicle's, starting from scratch. But before that I'm making the Korean Space Launch Vehicle(KSLV) which is based on the Angara.

The KSLV is a bit of an odd launcher. The South Koreans have decided to leapfrog the competition, by using a Russian booster, and domestic upper stages. The KSLV will use a small solid rocket powered upperstage(~1200kg) on top of a Russian Angara booster to put 120kg into orbit. The Angara is overkill for this, it could launch 120kg to orbit on its own, but with the Angara, as the South Koreans improve their upper stages they will have the ability to put up to 6000kg into orbit with a LOX\LH2 upper stage. First flight is expected to be in 2007 with the launch of the 100kg STSAT-2

Flight of the CXV

2006-05-21T18:51:00.000-04:00

Had the first all up flight of the CXV today, it went better than I had hoped, other than landing in the middle of Cuba. I still have some minor things to fix and finish before release, but it works pretty good as is. Tomorrow is a holiday(Victoria day for us Canuk's), so I may finish it tomorrow, or next weekend
Pictures of the Flight
CXV flight

One of my blog readers sent me this(thanks Stimfas) remember the CXV mockup for the water-drop, its now rotting outside on the outskirts of Crescent City

Blue skies for the VLA

2006-05-17T17:51:00.000-04:00

I got the VLA flying nicely now, but it needs further tweaking, top speed is ~140m/s(~300mph). which seems about right in the ballpark of where I want it(simular to whiteknight), but takeoff is too fast 120m/s with the rocket, and it needs almost the whole runway(at KSC) to accelerate. I'm going to try and get it down to ~90m/s. But those numbers will come down if the rocket ends up lighter than I planned for(current guess ~150000kg, with a average ISP of 315)

It flew....

2006-05-15T17:10:00.000-04:00

On the weekend I finished up the VLA model and textures, I think it looks sharp in red and white, Also had a quick test flight using the DG configs with the weight bumped up to 125000kg. Boy was it a pig, it needed a speed of 400m/s to takeoff, that's nuts, but it looked real good in orbiter.

some interesting news on the VLA, according to usspacenews.com both the CVX and Rutans spaceship2 may have the same mothership(VLA?). But speculation on google groups believes the only differences will be the release height, CVX 30000ft the spaceship2 is believed to be 50000-60000ft altitude.... Interesting

anyways SPACEHAB's Apex has been released and is at orbithanger

SPACEHAB Apex download

Flight of the Apex

2006-05-13T19:37:00.000-04:00

I uploaded 21 pictures of the Apex flight to my flikr site
Apex launch, orbit, re-entry, landing pics

Today I made an honest effort to learn how the aerodynamics values work for spacecraft.dll, mostly because, as much as I liked my mystic add-on, it was crap when it came time to re-enter, forget half-assed, I didn't even bother trying, I just used the generic "CAPSULE" aerodynamic values. Apex on the other hand is way different, it works the way is should work, its not a bucking bronco like mystic, and the parachute works properly.

I still have to add the docking port, Canadarm grapple point, thruster and main engine locations to the Apex configs. But then it will be done

Spacehab Apex

2006-05-12T20:43:00.000-04:00

Both the CXV and Apex add-ons are coming along pretty quickly, I'm useing parts from my other add-ons, which saves alot of time. but I am quite pleased with the results, considering they aren't made from scratch

anyways, Spacehab's Apex model/textures is complete, needs configs

T/Space CXV

2006-05-12T20:40:00.000-04:00

The Models and textures are complete for the CXV add-on, I still have to write the config files to bring it to life, but they look good in orbiter

Speaking of COTS....

2006-05-10T18:22:00.000-04:00

The T/space CXV and spacehab apex will be my next obiter projects

I started hammering out the polygons for these projects today, CXV and Quick Reach 2

Its happened....

2006-05-10T18:13:00.000-04:00

Commercial orbital transport service (nasa's COTS) has down selected to six finalists
in no particular order

Spacehab - APEX
Kistler - Kistler LV with cargo pod
Andrews space - unknown
T/space - CXV
SpaceX - Dragon
spacedev - dreamchaser?

Congratulations to the companies that made it this far. its nice to see that there are no large aerospace companies in the list(cough boeing, lockmart), nasa should do well with these new aerospace blood lines

New add-ons released

2006-05-10T18:04:00.000-04:00

Both lunar Penguin and the Wasp nanosat launcher have been released

March of the Lunar Penguin

2006-05-07T17:43:00.000-04:00

Both Wasp/CanX and the Lunar penguin are almost ready to release, I just have the PDF's to make now. But I'm still waiting to see what conclusion is made on the spacecraft/multistage scenario editor capabillity is.

Stirred the Hornets nest

2006-05-07T17:37:00.000-04:00

Some pictures of the Wasp launching CanX3

Orbiter 2006 is out

2006-05-06T17:23:00.000-04:00

Martin and the Beta team have done an outstanding job. Its much more user friendly now thanks to the glass cockpit, no more key combinations to remember:). The Lv10 textures look outstanding, for a small performance hit. The scenario editor is amazing, you can add/delete ships and put them wherever you want.

With the release of orbiter 2006, I'm updating Walrus and Mystic. The issues with Mystic's re-entry problem has been fixed properly. I'd like both Walrus and Mystic to have compatibility with the new scenario editor, but unfortunately, I can't get it to work. I'll wait and see what Vinka or Martin says(or if someone figures out how to make spacecraft/multistage add-ons work with the new vessels folder) for now

I finished texturing the Wasp LV(no pics its on my other computer) it has the same color scheme as the Walrus LV, the weights and burn times, I have already figured out. Otherwise this add-on is complete, its just the issues with orbiter 2006 scenario editor compatibility holding it up

The lunar penguin, I haven't found a launch vehicle for it. I'd prefer a falcon 5, but I have no desire to make it since there are 3 others in development(a 4th one really isn't needed). So I'm just going to release it, with a lunar landing scenario

when all of the above is done I'll give details on my next orbiter project

Ready for download

2006-04-29T16:23:00.000-04:00

So Walrus and Mystic are finally complete and at Orbithanger

Walrus LV + Mystic

I'm working on the Wasp nanosat launcher and CanX nanosats now, it shouldn't take too long to complete.

Ready for lift-off

2006-04-24T18:13:00.000-04:00

Everything works now but the HUD, If I can't find a fix for it, I'm just going to release it, which means all you have to do is turn the HUD off(Ctrl+H) before turning on the virtual cockpit(F8)
like thats real hard to do :)

did a quick run to mustards Nebulus station today, its not easy to grab something in space with the arm, its much easier to dock.

Partial success

2006-04-23T13:41:00.000-04:00

So I got the MFD's working in VC mode, but anytime the hud is turned on orbiter crashes :(

Ghosts of Energia

2006-04-18T17:37:00.000-04:00

Recent photos of the old Energia/buran pad

Energia Pictures

One step forward.....

2006-04-18T17:24:00.000-04:00

Textures are fixed :), and after looking a the DG cockpit, I figured out how to make the cockpit stay lighted, irregardless of which direction you are facing

Two steps backwards.....
I still can't get the MFD's to work
edit: after DL'ing and looking at Greg Burch's lunar lander(very nice BTW), I think I know what I am doing wrong with the MFD's

Test launch

2006-04-16T18:57:00.000-04:00

Mystic is finally in orbiter, but there are problems, all textures seem to be mirrored, and spacecraft3 virtual cockpit MFDs show up as grey squares :(

more problemsolving to do.........

Current Projects

2006-04-16T18:56:00.000-04:00

CanX 1-5(left to right)
- model --> complete
-texures-->don't need any
-configs -->haven't started
Wasp Nanosat launcher
model -->complete
textures -->haven't started
configs -->haven't started
Lunar Penguin
model --> complete
textures --> haven' started
configs --> haven't started

New images from Venus express

2006-04-14T19:43:00.000-04:00

stunning images
I wish Nasa would pay more attention to venus, our sister planet. To much remains a mystery about venus.

Esa site with the pictures

Almost ready for launch

2006-04-14T19:41:00.000-04:00

Started the instrument panel tonight, and changed some of the textures(dreamliner style lighting is modified, no more sunset pink, and purple) it should look real good in orbiter, 3 more textures to make and then it gets converted to orbiter

but some bad news I was cleaning up my hard drive today, and accidently deleted my Tarqeq moon probe, so that project is toast(I don't have much interest in remaking it)

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter secondary payload

2006-04-10T18:23:00.000-04:00

Nasa announced the winner of LRO secondary payload downselect today. I was kind of hopeing it would be the GFSC/Raytheon lunar lander/hopper, but they selected the ARC Impactor instead.
oh well

I have the model of the raytheon hopper(also known as the "Lunar Penguin") 90% complete, It will be a future add-on. Its pretty cool, its made up of parts from the missile defense EKV interceptors and the tomahawk cruise missile(puts military equipment to good use) It uses a star-20 solid upper stage as a crasher stage( like the soviet LK lunar lander and the block-D) then it has 700-800m/s to land and hop around the crater. since its not going with the LRO, I'll probbly use Athena or Taurus to launch it as a dedicated mission, should work, it pretty small 1m tall and 1m wide, and 105KG without the star-20

The mission that was selected sounds pretty good, it uses the centuar or Delta 4 upper stage as a impactor(over 2000KG, deep impact was 350KG) The EELVs payload ring is converted into sattelite that follows the impactor relaying video and scientific data back

The ARC impactor might be a future project. but as it stands.
My current projects for orbiter are
-Walrus and Mystic- almost complete
-Tarqeq/Lunette + Angara 1.2- Tarqeq/Lunette are finished but Angara needs textures and configs made
-CanX and Wasp nanosat Launcher- models are complete, needs textures and configs
-Lunar Penguin-model about 90% complete, needs textures, configs, and maybe a launch vehicle

Excellent weekend

2006-04-10T18:05:00.000-04:00

Finally had a weekend with half-decent weather (for a change) raked the lawn, turned the soil in the garden, got the lawnmower ready for the summer, washed my cars....... I'm really looking forward to summer :)

I made some more textures for Mystic, I tried to copy the 787 Dreamliner lighting scheme, But I'm not to crazy about it(it might look better in Orbiter) so I may change it. I still have some more textures to make, I should have it in orbiter by the end of the week, Might even have the whole thing finished and released by the weekend, don't hold your breath though :)

Mystic Interior

2006-04-02T17:32:00.000-04:00

Modeling of the interior is complete, and texturing has begun
It's set up as a 2 passenger + 2 International Standard Payload rack(refrigerator sized ISS racks) interior

Small update for today

2006-04-01T17:03:00.000-05:00

I made the abort interstage for Mystic today, and finished/remade the textures.

Martian Moons tour

2006-03-25T18:02:00.000-05:00

I did a trip to Phobos and Deimos from Mars last weekend
lots of pics of the trip on my Flickr account

Martian Moons tour Pics

Add-ons used

High Resolution Mars -by Seth Hollingsead -Avsim
Mars 2060 -by Toni Ylisirniö -Orbithanger

Mystic redesign

2006-03-25T17:16:00.000-05:00

There was some shortfalls in the orginal mystic design, main one being too small. there was cliping on both sides of the interior(see through) in orbiter, because it was too narrow. :(
Rather than scale it bigger, I decided to start form scratch, and take advantage of the new spacecraft3.dll features. The redesign is heavily based on the SpaceX Dragon.

Still have more texturing and the interior to do

Cassiope

2006-03-25T17:10:00.000-05:00

I remade the mesh, after getting some pics of the current design.

Walrus nearing completion

2006-03-21T17:55:00.000-05:00

The pad for the Walrus lanuch vehicle is finally in Orbiter now, Leaving Mystic as the last part to finish before this package is complete. The Tarqeq lunar mission will now be a standalone package.

Tarqeq Lunar mission

2006-03-21T16:45:00.000-05:00

The model for Tarqeq is finished, Just have to get it into orbiter now. Also I have been slowly working on Upgrading the Angara fleet. Angara 1.2 with a solid fuel kick stage(based on the Topol-M ICBM upperstage) will be included with tarqeq, for launching it towards the moon.

Phobos-Grunt

2006-03-10T18:13:00.000-05:00

Just noticed this on the Space.com forums, Lavochkin has released an excellent 10min video detailing Phobos-Grunt's mission

Phobos-Grunt Video

Tarqeq

2006-03-04T09:51:00.001-05:00

I started remaking the Tarqeq Lunar Mission.

Walrus testing continues

2006-03-04T09:42:00.000-05:00

I have begun flight testing with with the SRB's installed, and tweaking the performance numbers for the Walrus LV

so far the performance numbers are as follows

no SRB = 2500kg to 200km orbit
2 SRB's= 4500kg to 200km orbit
4 SRB's= 6500kg to 200km orbit

Fixed up at last

2006-03-02T10:58:00.000-05:00

My health had deteriated considerably since my last update, to the point where I was hospitalized for a couple of weeks, But the good news is that they found and *FIXED* what was wrong with me.
Bowel obstructions are not fun

I will have an update on my orbiter projects uploaded this weekend

Update

2006-01-25T14:39:00.000-05:00

It been almost a month since I have updated my site. I still have an interest in my projects, but unfortunatly due to health problems, I haven't been able to work on them for quite some time.
due too stomach problems I cant sit for any great length of time(this is the first time I have used the computer in weeks)

I am getting better, but for now my projects are on hold

Successful first flight of the Walrus

2005-12-28T15:17:00.000-05:00

I remade + stretched the Walrus, and had its first flight in Orbiter today along with the CASSIOPE satellite

Mystic Update

2005-12-11T18:52:00.000-05:00

I got my Christmas shopping done this morning, I thought it would take the whole day, but it only took me 3 hours. :)

With some of my spare time afterwards I started texturing Mystic, and making the interior for it. I also started changing the Walrus launch pad model to support manned operations

Manned Spacecraft

2005-12-09T17:09:00.000-05:00

Ever since I finished the Angara Launch vehicles, I've been wanting to make a manned spacecraft for Orbiter, the first ship is Mystic, a cross between Kliper and Lockheed's CEV. 2-3 man ship for launching on the Walrus LV. I'm making an interior for it as well. The second ship is obviously the T/Space CXV, I originally intended to launch it on top of the Walrus LV, But decided not too, after I came up with the Mystic design. I might finish it and make the T/space VLA + the Airluanch rocket in the future

Alien

2005-12-09T16:53:00.000-05:00

I played with a couple of tutorials for Anim8or, then I tried making a astronaut, What a failure that was :)
So I ended up making an Alien instead, complete with skeleton so he bends in the right places. It was quite a learning experience.

Walrus pad update

2005-12-09T16:49:00.000-05:00

I started texturing the launch site, still a WIP

Walrus Textures

2005-11-29T15:55:00.000-05:00

I had some free time today, So I started texturing Walrus

2005-11-01T18:00:00.000-05:00

making progress. I'm still undecided on the launch site location, currently thinking about the southern tip of Nova Scotia, or the old Churchill rocket research range in Manitoba

Tarqeq and Lunette

2005-10-16T17:21:00.000-04:00

Tarqeq (Inuit for moon spirit) is a lunar mission to map the moon with a hi res laser camera system (similar to the one developed for inspecting the shuttle tiles) and radar. Lunette was originally planed to fly on India's Chandrayaan-1 moon probe. Unfortunately funding could not be guaranteed for lunette, and was dropped from the Chandrayaan program. Lunette will now be part of the Tarqeq mission, and is based on the CanX 4&5 Nanosattelite.

CASSIOPE

2005-10-16T17:02:00.000-04:00

CASade, Smallsat and IOnospheric Polar Explorer. The satellite will include the telecommunications instrument Cascade, which will provide the very first digital broadband courier service for commercial use, and the scientific payload ePOP (enhanced polar outflow probe), which will be used to study the ionosphere. When launched in 2007 CASSIOPE will be the first to use the Canadian multi-purpose small satellite platform. I will be making a couple of add-ons based on this small satellite bus

CanX Nanosats

2005-10-16T16:52:00.000-04:00

My favorite satellites. With the introduction of CanX 4 and 5, I have decided to remake CanX-1,2, and 3 from my Canadian microsats mission add-on. CanX 4 and 5 will use the propulsion from CanX-2 to perform a formation flying mission in 2008

Walrus Launch Vehicle

2005-10-16T16:24:00.000-04:00

Custom design, similar to the old Atlas ICBM derived launch vehicles. Walrus in its basic form is a stage and a half type LV, powered by liquid oxygen and liquid methane. 2500kg to LEO, payload can be increased with the use of a second stage and or SRB's

test

2005-10-16T16:20:00.000-04:00

test

Projects in Parking orbit

2005-08-30T16:09:00.000-04:00

Russian JIMO, Venera-D, and Phobos-Grunt projects are on hold for now. I will finish the projects one day, but my interests are in other areas right now

Site problems

2005-06-19T18:32:00.000-04:00

this sucks something seems to be screwed with my image host.....

Going to wait and see if they fix it or I will move to another host.

Rus JIMO update

2005-06-16T16:41:00.000-04:00

the model is almost done now

Russian JIMO

2005-06-11T19:34:00.000-04:00

Started a new project, Russia's JIMO
its going to be pretty big when its finished, over 100ft long. Something good and heavy for my Angara 5 to launch. I'm seriously considering making a manned interplanetary vehicle and using a modified version of the Rus JIMO as the propulsion system

anyways you can read about the Russian JIMO and see pictures of what it will look like when I'm done here

Russian JIMO

if you can't read Russian, use an online translator like Babelfish

Phobos-Grunt and Venera-D

2005-06-11T19:13:00.000-04:00

both of them are in Orbiter now, Phobos-Grunt I just have to make up Scenarios and documentation for its use. Venera-D works, but the lander needs alot of tweaking for its decent through Venus's atmosphere, I'll figure it out sooner or later.

Phobos-grunt above phobos

Venera-D lander 35KM above the Venus surface

At last my new site is done

2005-06-11T18:51:00.000-04:00

After playing around with databases (MySQL) to use with PHP, or Mambo for my new site, I realized that it wasn't that much faster then using M$ frontpage for HTML on my old site. So I looked around for a bit and it looks a blog would best suit my needs. Easy to update and maintain

For now my old site is still up and running, but will no longer be updated
http://kodiakspace.fateback.com/